NEASC Visit Highlights AHS Goals

• April 3, 2026

Anushka Dole || ONLINE EDITOR

Andover High School hosted a re-accreditation visit from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) from March 16-18, as part of a decennial review process designed to evaluate how well AHS supports student learning and identify areas of improvement. 

According to Assistant Principal Alicia Linsey, the process started during the 2023-2024 school year with a visit from the Collaborative Conference team, a group of visiting educators from across the New England area. In preparation for the visit, a team of AHS faculty members and administrators was formed.

“We picked out priority areas and presented those to this visiting NEASC committee … and they agreed with [our priority areas],” said biology teacher Lindsey L’Ecuyer, the AHS committee’s science department representative. 

There were five priority areas that AHS pledged to work on starting in the 2023-2024 school year: developing the Vision of a Graduate, implementing consistent curricula throughout all departments, vertical/horizontal alignment across departments and throughout grades, promotion of school pride, and building infrastructure. 

The Vision of a Graduate outlines the skills and values that the school hopes to instill in every student by the time they graduate. 

Vertical alignment refers to improving coordination between teachers across grade levels to ensure student skills build progressively, while horizontal alignment emphasizes greater collaboration between teachers across departments. 

“[The committee is] working on … finding time in the school day for teachers to collaborate more,” L’Ecuyer said, adding that AHS has begun standardizing curricula to support this effort.  

“There are committees in the school that have been working on documenting curriculum in a consistent format for our core classes … freshman English, for example, [and] biology,” L’Ecuyer said. 

Linsey mentioned that students and parents also play a role in the accreditation process. A team of visiting evaluators—distinct from the Collaborative Conference team—conduct interviews to gather student perspectives on the school climate and learning experiences. 

Although the committee leads the reflection process, administrators are then responsible for implementing action plans based on their findings. In accordance with these plans, faculty members must provide evidence of integration of the district goals.

L’Ecuyer emphasized that NEASC accreditation is more about reflecting on and improving school processes than it is about recognition.

“It’s less of a badge as it is opening yourself up to reflecting on and documenting what you do well and what it’s like setting goals for your school,” L’Ecuyer said.

Beyond internal reflection and planning, the “badge” that the reaccreditation process provides does carry additional, tangible benefits for students. It reassures families and colleges that AHS maintains a rigorous academic program, and that it’s constantly working towards improving learning.

“My understanding is that colleges know Andover High School—they know what our programs are like,” L’Ecuyer said. “[Because] of [accreditation] … they know the kinds of students that graduate from here, and what skills that [they] have.”

Accreditation also plays a role in the school’s ability to receive funding.

“NEASC accreditation is required for eligibility to receive some private, state, and federal grants, loans, and other federal funds,” Linsey noted in an email.

Award-Winning Author Visited March 2 

• April 3, 2026

Arshiaa Prem || STAFF WRITER

Filipino-American author Randy Ribay visited Andover High School on March 2 to speak with students. Ribay is known for his award-winning novels Patron Saints of Nothing (2019) and Everything We Never Had (2024). 

Ribay, who is best known for writing about the Filipino diaspora and the complexities of identity, family, and belonging, met primarily with sophomore students. The event included a student-led panel discussion, audience Q&A, and a book signing. The visit was funded through a three-year, $150,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation, which supports bringing diverse, award-winning authors to schools across Andover. 

“We’re going for the best,” said Mary Coombs, librarian at AHS. “This is our third author on this cycle, and they’ve all been award-winning, best-selling authors. They’re contemporary—they’re writing for young adults right now—and they address a lot of interesting themes.”

Previous visiting authors included Angeline Boulley, a Native American author whose books reflect the Ojibwe heritage and background, and Gene Luen Yang, whose books reflect Chinese-American themes. 

“I don’t think anything comes close to transporting you into somebody else’s perspective the way a story can,” Ribay told the students gathered in the Collins Center for his address. “Here is somebody speaking, telling you a story, and you are inside their head, or close to their head. You’re experiencing their thoughts, experiencing their emotions.”

He added that books offer a unique opportunity to build empathy and connection. “Reading stories helps us understand ourselves better, to feel validated,” Ribay explained. “But it also opens us up to see things from other people’s perspectives. Sometimes reading about other people helps us understand how we are all connected.”

Ribay also shared insights into his own journey to becoming a writer. “Most authors start off by saying they’ve always wanted to be an author. That was not the case for me,” he said.  “I loved stories. I read a lot of books, a lot of comics, watched a lot of TV and movies, played a lot of video games. But I never really thought this was a job people actually have.”

After graduating from the University of Colorado Boulder with a degree in English, Ribay went on to teach middle and high school English before eventually pursuing writing full-time. “The reason I studied English was simple,” he said. “I really liked books. I really liked stories. Here was an opportunity to spend all my time reading and studying stories—that’s what I wanted to do.”

Ribay’s most recent novel, Everything We Never Had, spans four generations of Filipino American boys as they navigate identity. The novel won the 2025 Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature.

His novel Patron Saints of Nothing follows Jay Reguero, a Filipino American teenager who travels to the Philippines to investigate the death of his cousin during the country’s war on drugs. The book explores grief, guilt, and cultural identity and was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, as well as a recipient of the 2019 Freeman Award from the National Consortium for Teaching About Asia.

Sophomore Hannah Mottley said interacting with the author adds “a new dimension to the reading experience.”

“I think it’s really interesting to see the author in real life because it shows us that these themes and these problems that he writes about are things he actually deals with in real life,” Mottley said. “When something is written down on paper it seems almost unattached, but when you see the person that wrote the writing it creates that emotion of attachment.”

Coombs provided a similar viewpoint, saying she hopes students gain perspective from hearing directly from the author. 

“We don’t all live the same life,” she expressed. “It’s great to see what other people encounter, what their families like and the obstacles they overcome. In a way it’s you seeing something different, but there’s also a lot that people have in common.” 
Ribay’s novel Patron Saints of Nothing was read by select sophomores, and this grade made up the primary audience for the event. A student steering committee prepared for the visit by writing introductions and developing questions for the panel discussion. The three students who participated as panelists were Isabella Valente, Jueun Kim, and Elena Stamm.